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The more I think about the “Whopper Freakout” campaign from 2007 by Crispin, Porter and Borgusky, the more I feel like the idea sounds very familiar.

Then I remember John Steele’s “Truth, Lies and Advertising.” Especially the case study on the “Got Milk” campaign. The essence of the campaign came from the idea of ‘deprivation.’ Focus Group participants were asked to go a certain amount of time without Milk, and as a result it became obvious that Milk Advertising in the past had gotten it all wrong: no one cares about how healthy milk is. People care about milk when they don’t have it!

Along the lines of ‘you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone,’ people realized that Milk is essential for the full enjoyment of cereal, or to have with cookies, etc.

Did CP+B ‘borrow’ from this idea of deprivation? Without a doubt they did, but is that wrong? Let me answer that question with a simple statement: Everything is borrowed from somewhere or has been done before.

Star Wars? Great story, but stolen from numerous places including Greek mythology. So, then where did the Greeks steal from? Good question to which I do not know the answer, but I know that it has to be from somewhere.

In summary, CP+B stole the Whopper Freakout idea from the Got Milk campaign, but gave it a unique twist that only CP+B could have given it. In addition, it actually helped BK sell a lot of additional burgers.

Am I jealous of what they did? Of course. Who wouldn’t be? They are CP+ freaking B.